Real Estate Planning | Personal Injury | Business Lawhttp://www.thehartleylawgroup.com
Just another WordPress siteWed, 08 Oct 2014 14:58:18 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.58 Trackhttp://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/8-track/
http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/8-track/#commentsMon, 28 Jul 2014 16:56:41 +0000http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/?p=326Sunday afternoon I was driving home from DC amongst the other fools that thought I-95 would not be that bad. We were discussing music and my daughter referred to my generation as the “Cassette Tape” generation. I told her that I was the CD generation not the cassette tape or even worse the 8 track generation. She dismissed me with a sarcastic, “If you owned a Sony Cassette Walkman you are from the Cassette Tape Generation.”

I conceded and this time warp joggled my mind to a Sony 200 CD changer that I owned in college. Think about that for a second – 200 CDs rotating with hundreds of hours of music. It was the first iPod and worked slowly but efficiently. You could hear the discs loading and unloading with robotic efficiency. My mind wondered to how irrelevant things become with technology.

My kids have never used a cassette and landline phones are becoming just as obsolete. Computers are moving in the same direction, just ask Michael Dell. We are becoming increasingly dependent on access, not ownership. The problem with ownership is that the cassette tape generation assumed that you could amass enough things and permanence would follow. My 200 CDs were valuable until someone put all that music online with an instantaneous search feature and viola, the Sony 200 CD carousel jukebox envy of my dorm is worthless. Did I mention it had a remote control? Regardless, the perpetual forward motion of technology and advancement pulls you, pushes you, or leaves you behind.

All of us want the safety of ownership but the speed of depreciation and technology make the acquisition of things counter productive to building wealth. Business owners are especially susceptible to stagnation. Tradition and doing what has worked in the past seem the right path.

Let me give you an example of the challenge between access and ownership. My office has a series of computers that were bought new with a new server to hold the data and manage the connections. Five years later we are a cloud based server system and cloud based software. The cost has gone down and I am the owner of a $10,000 paperweight. We are still operating but the hardware requirements are portals instead of assets. I still listen to music but instead of 200 CDs, I have unlimited access because of Spotify and Pandora. I have not bought a CD in four years. This generation should be referred to as the access generation. They definitely have more choice than I could have dreamed.

]]>http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/8-track/feed/0Two Jobshttp://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/jobs/
http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/jobs/#commentsThu, 17 Jul 2014 17:09:06 +0000http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/?p=323$12 billion is a lot of money. Citigroup just paid that much to settle a suit with the Feds. Bank of America has been paying billions for a couple of years to get out from under the Fed’s regulation. Mortgage lenders and banks have been paying out large sums to pay for certain wrongdoings.

We can agree that $20 to 50 billion is stupid money. Our government is taxing the banks for bailing them out so I guess someone could argue that we are getting our money back. The reality is that we will never get that money back and the people hurt in the mortgage crisis are never going to see a real dime of that money. If my daughter takes money out of my wallet without me knowing it then loses that money and I pay her debts with new money then I tell her to pay me back with the money I just paid to pay the debts, I lose twice. So here we are losing twice. Taxpayer money was used to bail the investors out then we demand the money we bailed them out back but the people who lost won’t get any of the money.

Make it simple: I pay you $5 then ask for $3 back then tell you to stop taking $5 from others and you say, “OK” but you never give the five you took from others back which creates two losers: me and the other simpleton you took the original $5 from. But now you know why the stock market is breaking over 17,000 and Middle America has given up looking for work. Investors can rape and pillage while the federal government plays the role of enabling parent. Bonfire of the vanities on crack and middle class America looks around and says, “Wait a second, something is wrong.”

Does anyone really believe that if a bank pays $12 billion to pay a fine that these costs won’t trickle down to the thirteen year old kid who deposits his grass cutting money in his first savings account at the bank? Let me tell little Johnny or Susie, who bust their tails over the summer sweating and working to make $25.00 to save for college. Look at your bank statement because it might look like this:

]]>http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/jobs/feed/0The Power of Delusionhttp://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/power-delusion/
http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/power-delusion/#commentsMon, 18 Nov 2013 20:56:05 +0000http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/?p=241Delusion can be a diagnosed mental disorder but I consider it a necessary tool in life. Carrying the weight of one’s daily actions can be crushing enough but add a constant dose of reality without the sweet ambrosia of delusion and you can suffocate.

Do you know what I mean about the suffocating reality of just not quite making it to where you want to be? Our society provides an enema of inferiority through the media and social expectations. Holiday shopping becomes of a pressure cooker of “getting things done” instead of celebrating others by lovingly giving them gifts. Gyms are full of people fighting back genetic disaster or indulgence from the night before. Going out is a comparison covetousness festival ending in “did you see the way she looked at my outfit?” or, “That shirt was low enough, don’t you think?”Keeping up with the Jones is a national epidemic. I know that some of you reading this are thinking, “Not me! My friends are great and I don’t care what others think about me!” Delusion.

Everyone wants to fit in and have a group of friends that love them and care about them. Delusion allows us to really believe that things are better than they really are. We are not able to process what we are: hopeless pilgrims on this spinning rock with lives that might be worse than we think they really are because our mind keeps us in a self-induced delusional euphoria. Jesus broke the delusion for his disciples and we see how well that worked out for him. Here is a list of delusions that I will keep close to my heart and across my nose so that I can breath:

Stretch waist bands are very hip. *Mirror, mirror on the wall…..*

I am still athletic. I could run that far if I needed to but my car is right here.

Poptarts are good for you!

Women love my directness and lack of sensitivity because they want to hear it straight.

I have always wanted to do this job for a living.

Childhood was easy and there is nothing to talk about.

Retirement is something I can worry about later, I’m only forty afterall.

Our system of government works for everyone.

Unwanted hair in places that are not traditional hair locations is sexy.

Steps are an architectural anachronism so they should be avoided.

If my age and my pant size are the same number that is a balanced approach to health.

Sleeping in a movie does not indicate I am getting old just that my eyes hurt in dark.

The statement, “Honey, you were great,” is not sarcasm but an affirmation. In every context.

Today Blockbuster will pull the life support plug on the rest of their retail stores. The demise of a once giant of business leaves some lessons in business that all of us should implement:

1. Retail commerce is dead.

The days of healthy retail business have been killed by technology. Don’t open a brick and mortar if you can do the same on the web.

2. Expansion can be symptomatic of an undiscovered problem.

Blockbuster got bigger instead of better. “More” was the problem, not the solution so RedBox and Netflix swooped in and killed them.

3. Consumers tell you what they want, so listen.

Two words – late fees. This ticked people off and demand for an alternative was waiting for Netflix.

4. Always remember what your core business is.

Blockbuster was supposed to be delivering movies to people. They forgot that, so the consumer became the enemy. They approached the consumer as a revenue source instead of focusing on the experience the consumer was having with their company.

5. A business is always vulnerable to competition.

Keep your business head on a swivel and look for competition. Your competitors will teach you about the weaknesses of your company so learn from their advances.

6. Don’t be afraid to partner with better, brighter and bigger competitors.

Know when you are beat and look for a big brother to help you survive. People need you and want to match resources.

7. Identify the best part of your business and kill the rest.

Cut out the dead and support the life. What if Blockbuster had converted to box delivery first and phased out their leases?

8. DVDs were always going to die.

Be aware of the fact that technology can catch up to your advantage. Blockbuster could have asked any of their 18 year old employees where the technology was going and they would have been ahead of Netflix.

9. Arrogance is a business killer.

Blockbuster thought they could avoid innovating and research because they were the first to fill an old market. One small pond with a big fish. Now the water has moved and they are dead.

10. Real Estate must always have multiple exit strategies.

Lease payments continue whether you are making money or not. Costs in this area were disproportionate to the per rental value. A junior analyst could have told Blockbuster that a small dip in revenue would make their lease payments unsustainable. Partnering with a strong retail presence such as O’Reilly Auto Parts or a similar store could have allowed the transition for Blockbuster to occupy 1% of the store without lease payments, providing kiosks that could have been profitable. Instead Blockbuster entered the kiosk market too late and bled out slowly. The victim of 1,000 slashes by Netflix and RedBox.

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http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/twitter-ipo/#commentsWed, 06 Nov 2013 14:45:50 +0000http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/?p=228Twitter is getting ready to launch their IPO on the world. They are being compared to Facebook. The comparison might be warranted but the reality is that Facebook was making a profit when it launched its IPO. Facebook’s valuation was battered around by the market and over time the true value of the share price has started to solidify.

Facebook reported a second quarter profit of $2 billion. That’s right, $2 BILLION. Twitter has lost money every year. In the same quarter, Twitter lost $42.2 million on $139 million in revenue. In any finance class that is a huge loss. More importantly, these figures should teach the lesson that a $2 billion valuation for its IPO is utterly ridiculous.

Facebook launched its IPO with huge revenue backing up a $1 billion valuation and the market punished it for months. I think a company making $2 billion a quarter is pretty strong and deserves a valuation of $2 billion while Twitter has never turned a profit and their losses mount. Furthermore, Twitter is about $800 million less in revenue, which makes a huge difference in the overall mobile advertising marketplace.

While Facebook might be losing market share to Twitter, the reality is that Facebook is moving fast to show the world that spending $1 billion on Instagram might have been the payoff Zuckerberg knew it would be since they paid that expense back in one quarter. How will Twitter compete without a war chest? I am not sure that I want to join the Tweet bandwagon until they turn a profit. Maybe I should post that on Twitter.

]]>http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/twitter-ipo/feed/0Voting Gauntlethttp://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/voting-gauntlet/
http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/voting-gauntlet/#commentsTue, 05 Nov 2013 14:25:26 +0000http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/?p=224Voting day in Virginia is a fascinating example of influence and pressure. Add a dash of inappropriate seasoning of commingled church and state and you get a bowl of subtle intimidation. In 2013 voting still occurs at places of worship – churches. In my district you are going to vote at a Church of God denomination or at the Mount, an African American megachurch.

Why should a non-believer have to walk into a house of worship to cast a ballot? Why are the leaders of these churches agreeing to allow the state to infiltrate their churches? People can look away from the religious images but they should not have to feel uncomfortable when they are voting. This is a complete violation of church and state. Schools are banning one bible after another yet the most important decisions are being conducted inside a house of worship?

I know that people will say, “What is the big deal? The church/religious images are not hurting anyone.” Yet their reinforcing the confluence of faith and politics is a risk to the church not the state. The argument that houses of worship are providing a public service for the voting population. (I suspect that rent is being paid. But if money is being paid it is not being taxed so the taxpayer loses again. But that is another blog.)

What I see is a coercive message that your vote and your religious affiliation are connected and should be completely in line. How can we ever remove the influence of money in politics if we can’t remove the influence of churches on voting locations.

On its face it is ludicrous that you would vote inside a house of worship. It is wrong for a church to cooperate with the state to allow voting to occur in a place where spiritual discernment and doctrinal decisions divide citizens at the core. The church leadership is wrong for allowing the state to coop their houses of worship in November. Jesus cleaned out the temple, admonishing the money changers that his father’s house is a house of prayer. If returned today, he would clean the voting booths out because in 2013 political decisions are definitely money exchanges. Lets keep houses of prayer houses of prayer.

]]>http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/voting-gauntlet/feed/0New Home “Upgrades” Are No Dealhttp://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/new-home-upgrades-are-no-deal/
http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/new-home-upgrades-are-no-deal/#commentsMon, 14 Oct 2013 17:53:16 +0000http://74.220.207.113/~khozseoc/hartley/?p=186Builders are adding the proverbial “undercoating” to new home sales as an incentive for buyers to make a decision. Consumers should be aware that these incentives are not helpful to them because the sales price remains the true value if the transaction is a deal.
The gingerbread in the business are things like appliances, granite tops and closing costs assistance. Every new home has these costs built in so the builder is not truly giving anything away since these items are being paid for by the buyer. Feeling good about a builder “throwing in” an upgrade is like going to the dealership and telling them that you won’t pay for the undercoating but you will pay full price. The car salesperson says, “Um, OK you are a hard sale but I will ask the manager. OK, my sales manager says we can throw in the undercoating.” New home sales weakness is real and the fact that builders are giving incentives shows how the consumer is driving the train. If you are betting on new home sales to carry us out of the real estate depression think again while you are admiring those granite tops you paid for but were told were given to you
]]>http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/new-home-upgrades-are-no-deal/feed/1Transitioning Elderly Parents into Long Term Livinghttp://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/transitioning-elderly-parents-into-long-term-living/
http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/transitioning-elderly-parents-into-long-term-living/#commentsMon, 14 Oct 2013 17:50:54 +0000http://74.220.207.113/~khozseoc/hartley/?p=184Transitioning an elderly parent or parents into a long term living scenario is a challenge for busy baby boomer children. This scenario is even more complicated by long distances between families. Here is a list of potential problem scenarios:

]]>http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/transitioning-elderly-parents-into-long-term-living/feed/0Attitudes in Investinghttp://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/attitudes-in-investing/
http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/attitudes-in-investing/#commentsMon, 14 Oct 2013 17:48:39 +0000http://74.220.207.113/~khozseoc/hartley/?p=182Warren Buffett and my best friend have something in common – when everyone goes left, they go right. When everyone panics, they calmly act. This strategy might not work in floods, riots, motorcycle caravans in NYC or with marching bands, but as for investing, it works.Buffett’s opportunistic lending has reaped him $10 billion in returns and my friend has ridden the stock market bull like a professional rodeo rider. The last time I guessed right on anything was Jeopardy. Maybe I am a pack animal, a group thinker that can’t think without mass validation. I got an iPad when everyone else did (I like my iPad by the way) but I am still operating an iPhone 4s so maybe there is hope. Investing is a personal thing for me because I don’t like loss, which is the worst type of attitude to have when you are investing. My best friend has never listened to the drum beat of the world to synchronize his steps. I guess I listen to my own beat but shamefully I am trying to stay in time with the masses with each step. Turning forty has been great for me because I have finally caught up with my failed expectations so now the rest of my life will be Buffett like – viewing the trend but listening to my drummer. I will keep my iPhone 4s.
]]>http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/attitudes-in-investing/feed/01984 Facebook Wayhttp://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/1984-facebook-way/
http://www.thehartleylawgroup.com/1984-facebook-way/#commentsMon, 14 Oct 2013 17:46:19 +0000http://74.220.207.113/~khozseoc/hartley/?p=180Transitioning an elderly parent or parents into a long term living scenario is a challenge for busy baby boomer children. This scenario is even more complicated by long distances between families. Here is a list of potential problem scenarios:

1. Dad died last year and mom does not want to leave the family home.
2. Mom fell last week and she is in rehab. We don’t want her to go back home.
3. Mom and Dad are living in a home that needs lots of work and they are going to need to sell the property soon.
4. Mom and Dad asked about a reverse mortgage last week, my sister and I are concerned about their finances.
5. Mom and Dad are getting too old to handle their finances and the house is the biggest asset they have.

Usually the home is either the biggest asset or the biggest problem for elderly couples and singles. I have experienced client frustration over the need to dispose of the home or at least be able to exert control over the home.

Many law firms who practice estate planning have been “bankrupting” elderly clients for years in order to plan for long term care. My opinion on this strategy is irrelevant but lets say I don’t think putting my parents on welfare at seventy-five years of age is a goal I want to achieve. What I do want is choices surrounding the assets my clients’ parents might need in their golden years.

The first step toward exploring choices is for the home to be titled properly for maximum control by the owners and the appointed representatives. I prefer for my clients to create a land trust in which they act as trustee with successor trustees named in the event of incapacity or death. A land trust is a simple but effective way to hold property for owners fifty-five and older. I prefer to move the asset to the land trust early, which does not disqualify the owners from long term care or even selling the property. If the successor trustees want to keep the property for an ailing surviving spouse, that option remains open but if the property needs to be sold then the trustee can step in and act without restrictions.

A crucial step that most people forget is that the changing of a trustee should be well documented and if there is a permanent change, then the original trustee should execute a resignation letter and the successor trustee should join that document accepting appointment. This document can be recorded to put all parties on notice of the proper authorized signer of the trust documents. Proper land trust planning can make the transition of real property to sale, lease or hold easier for elderly owners.